21/12/2017 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC

News with Victoria Fritz

and Alice Baxter.

Showdown in Barcelona.

Can today's Catalonia election

see off an independence

challenge that threatens one

of Europe's biggest economies?

Live from London,

that's our top story

on Thursday 21st December.

Polls have opened in the Spanish

region of Catalonia.

we'll cross live to Barcelona

to hear how Spanish businesses

are reacting to the vote.

Also in the programme...

Uber's Chinese rival receives

a big boost to its plans

for international expansion.

And we'll be getting

the inside track on the latest

Many investors are away for the

Christmas break.

Many investors are away for the

Christmas break. Investors taking a

step back following those recent

gains.

And we'll be getting

the inside track on the latest

trend in eating out.

Would you go to a stranger's house

for a home-cooked meal?

Well, our guest has turned that

idea into a business.

Just use the hashtag BBCBizLive.

Apple deliberately saying they slow

down old phones when it comes to

updating software. What do you

reckon? Letters no. -- let us know.

Hello and welcome to Business Live.

We start in the Spanish region

of Catalonia where voters

are going to the polls today to pick

a new parliament.

The elections were called

after October's referendum which saw

a vote in favour of independence,

plunging the country

into a constitutional crisis.

Catalonia is barely more than 6%

of Spain's territory.

But it accounts for around a fifht

of the Spanish economy

and almost a quarter of exports-

as well as 16% of the population.

Last week the Bank of Spain

cut its national economic growth

forecast for next year from 2.5%

to 2.4% - citing the uncertainty

around Catalonia as one

of the main reasons.

Businesses aren't waiting

to find out the impact.

Many are moving their legal

headquarters out of Catalonia.

Some reports suggest 3,000 have done

so since the referendum,

although politicians have been

arguing over the numbers.

We'll also take a look

at the Spanish stock market,

it was rising strongly

in the first half of the year,

but since October's referendum it's

been on a downward trajectory.

Victoria.

Thanks Alice.

Our Correspondent Guy

Hedgecoe is in Barcelona.

Guy, the separatist

and pro-unity sides appear to be

neck-and-neck at this stage?

Yes, absolutely. The polls have been

suggesting it is a very tight race.

Perhaps the pro-Independence parties

have been marginally ahead,

according to those polls. Although

the big question is, whether either

side will be able to form a

government after these elections,

because it is so tight and they

might fail to get a majority in the

Catalan parliament. I am outside a

polling station in central

Barcelona, I am with the managing

director of a financial company, AMC

network. It has a lot of business

interests in Spain, but particularly

Catalonia. After the instability we

saw, have you taken any particular

business decisions, how has it

affected your business decisions?

The instability came from the

Spanish state. This is a stable

region, diverse economy with plenty

of money here. But it affected our

decisions across Spain. We had to

pull back on a lot of investments

across the country. We are keen on

Catalonia, we will have to wait

until next year until we can do

something new and there are major

issues in other parts of Spain which

haven't come to light yet.

We did

see the government take direct

control of Catalonia at the end of

October, an unprecedented move.

Since that happened, have we seen a

change in the business climate, have

things calmed down in the last few

weeks since direct rule was

introduced?

Direct rule sounds more

interesting than it is. You have the

same things going on, but no heads

in place. You have people in charge

from Madrid, who you don't know what

they are called, donor who they are.

But things are trundling along and

nothing is happening quickly.

Briefly, what affected the selection

make to the Catalan economy?

The

news today with that of Poland and

the EU coming down hard on them is

interesting. We will see more noise

from other countries about what is

going on here and expecting them to

operate from Madrid like a proper

country instead of not a very

professional manner so far.

Thank

you very much, managing director of

AMC network.

Thank you very much.

Let's take a look at some of

the other stories making the news.

The US Commerce Department has ruled

that Canadian aerospace

firm Bombardier received government

subsidies and sold C-Series jets

below cost in the US.

The investigation came after

a complaint from US rival Boeing.

The Commerce Department

is recommending import tariffs

of almost 300%.

Telecoms giant AT&T has said it

will pay a $1,000 bonus

to more than 200,000 workers,

as a result of the

new US tax reforms.

The firm, which still needs

government approval to allow it

to take over Time-Warner,

also said it would invest an

additional $1 billion

in the US in 2018.

The global cost of disasters

jumped 63% this year,

according to insurance giant

Swiss Re - well above the average

of the past decade.

The Americas were hardest hit,

Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria

caused insured losses

of about $93 billion

Chinese ride-hailing service

Didi Shoe-shing Technology Company

has raised $4 billion

in a new funding round.

The fundraising will help fuel

the firm's global expansion plans.

Christine Hah is in Singapore, how

much of a challenge does this pose

to its US rival Uber?

How much of a challenge is this to

their big rival Uber.

This is the

company that push Uber out of the

market in China. This $4 billion

comes from Abu Dhabi state fund as

well as another long-term investor.

This pushes its evaluation up, but

more importantly, gives the company

a lot of financial power to push

through its expansion plans. Didi,

was at around $3.5 billion two years

ago, now it is $12 billion so it

gives it a lot of extra cash to two

at the expansion. They said they

will expand overseas and according

to Reuters, Didi has said it wants

to enter Mexico and also looking to

Taiwan. It wants to put more money

to artificial intelligence, so smart

transportation, self driving cars

and also wants to build up its

electric car network, so very

forward network. Didi is also an

investor, they have money put into

US-based Lift in Brazil, Estonia,

the Middle East. This is a threat to

Uber's global ambitions. Uber wants

to go public in 2018 but Didi has

the cash to back all this up.

Let's stay in the region.

China stocks rose on Thursday,

as investors were inspired

by Beijing's commitment to maintain

steady economic growth next year

while deepening structural reforms

and curbing financial risks.

Stocks in Asia more

generally a little muted -

as investors took a step back

following recent gains

after Donald Trump's tax reform bill

finally passed through Congress.

Equities have rallied this year

on expectations the president's

promised cuts would fire the already

strong economy and those gains

increased over the past week -

however, with the uncertainty out

of the way traders have

clearly decided to cash in.

Meanwhile here in Europe,

Yogita Limaye has the details

about what's ahead on Wall Street

Today.

Currencies have barely moved.

The final estimate of third quarter

GDP is expected to confirm some

of President Trump's proud boasts

that the economy has now been

growing at an annualised rate

of more than 3% for two quarters.

The consensus forecast

is for 3.3% growth.

As well as that economic data,

investors will also have various

bits of corporate news to mull

over on Thursday.

Foot wear giant, Nike, is releasing

its second quarter earnings.

They're likely to show that strong

demand from international markets -

notably Europe and China -

is driving sales growth.

There are also signs that business

in North America is improving too.

And the consulting firm Accentia

is expected to post a rise

in first quarter revenue

when it releases earnings.

Joining us is David Buik market

analyst from Panmure Gordon.

, What a joy.

The pleasure is all

ours.

Mark Carney reassuring investors

that the cryptocurrency

Bitcoin does not pose a threat

to global financial stability -

we better hope he's right!

The only area I would be worried

about, it is not a solid piece of

metal like gold, and it does lend

itself to criminology. People who

can't get money out of countries

will use bit calling to do it. It

will be impossible to regulate. --

Bitcoin. How can you make a case to

regulate Bitcoin. I wish all those

people, who want to fly by the seat

of their pants, was up from $234 two

years ago, up to 16,000, which is a

drop of 200% on what it was

yesterday. What will deter the

smaller investor, is the unit size.

Which is absolutely enormous. It is

a danger as commodity, but if you

have got the stomach for it, how

exciting is it? I agree with Mark

Carney on that.

It is not a

currency, so it does come with all

these warnings.

He did agree though,

that the technology behind it,

blockchain, conceivably

could improve the way

transactions are conducted

between financial institutions.

The other thing is, Bitcoin has been

introduced on two future markets,

BLE and Chicago. Which blends a bit

more liquidity to it and possibly

help these volatile conditions.

David, thank you and we will stick

around to go through the business

papers. Bitcoin is up 3.2% this

morning. But as David said, losing

some ground after reaching $20,000

earlier in the week. Has become a

new hobby, tracking the price of

Bitcoin.

Still to come:

Do you fancy yourself

as a Michelin star chef?

We'll be speaking to

the entrepreneur who's helping

amateur chefs make a living

from their hobby.

You're with Business

Live from BBC News.

Toys-R-Us - the UK's

biggest toy retailer -

has been struggling

and today it's seeking

approval for a plan

to restructure its business.

It'll mean closing some stores

and some job losses,

but if its plan isn't agreed, well,

the whole business could close.

So why is this happening?

Ben's at a toy shop in London.

Are you having fun?

Morning. There

was a time a big film franchise like

this would guarantee big toy sales,

but it's not working out like that.

Retailers having to sell things

cheaper this year before Christmas.

It has been a pretty tough time for

the toy market of late and it comes

to ahead with Toys R Us. They will

determine whether investors will the

retailer a lifeline. It means it

would carry on trading but would

close a number of stores and lose

our number of jobs. The alternative

is it would slip into administration

and back could put many more jobs at

risk. It could mean the closure of

those stores. Why has it been such a

tough time for retailers this year?

Gary is with me and is the boss of

The Entertainer. You are on high

streets, these out-of-town parks,

but it has been tough?

These last

six weeks, we're 9% down on

Maastricht, big drop at a critical

time of the. Nearly half the toy

industry's turnover is in these last

few weeks. Turnover in December is

25% more, so to be 9% down is a big

loss.

People just aren't paying for

this sort of stuff now?

We have

brought forward our January sale, we

started last Friday. We reviewed the

warehouse, looked that items we

thought would be overstocked and we

have been cutting prices. People

have been reacting to that people

are price conscious at the moment.

Good luck, you have a busy few days

ahead of you, but we'll get the

update from Toys R Us later. It

could be pretty important for the

future of the retail, but all of

them facing difficult times getting

us to part with our money,

especially when it comes to Joyce. A

lot of the competition is always

coming from online retailers.

Every year one is to difficult to

get hold of. This year it is the

Fingerling. Check it out.

You're watching Business Live.

Polls have opened in the Spanish

region of Catalonia.

The vote is intended to resolve

a stand-off between the Spanish

Government and campaigners

who unilaterally declared

independence in October.

All indications are that the result

will be very close.

We're expecting it later this

evening.

How do you fancy going

out for a meal cooked

by someone you don't know?

I don't mean to a restaurant,

I mean to the home

of a total stranger.

Well, our next guest has turned that

idea into a business.

Her company is called WeFiFo -

which stands for We Find Food.

It was founded in May

last year and operates

as a platform for foodies.

Amateur chefs can

open up their kitchens

and make money from enthusiastic

diners.

The company says that hosts can earn

up to $40,000 a year.

It has staged dining

events in seven countries,

including Australia,

America and Israel.

And plans to have

33,000 hosts by 2020.

Seni Glaister, founder

of WeFiFo joins us now.

This is a really interesting idea

and it goes to heart of utilising

underemployed people, people who may

be at home perhaps work part-time.

An interesting business model.

Yes,

we're encouraging people who

probably have a lot of talent and

skill, but haven't yet put to it

practice on an unknown audience. It

is designed to encourage people to

take that skill and monetise it.

When you go to a restaurant, you

know that that has had to go through

a lot of quality controls and sign

off on licences and stuff, can

anyone sign up, or do you have to

prove you can cook a decent meal? I

can't cook.

I bet people would love

to join you at your table. The joy

of this is anybody can sign up and

become a host. Reviews and ratings

will dictate the success of the

host. But most people that are proud

enough to serve food to even to

their families are competent cooks

and some we have found are

exceptional. But they're not, you're

not going to find them in a

restaurant, because family

commitments, might stop them

pursuing it as a career. But they

have a lot of talent.

It is a big

step from cooking for your family to

paying guests, how big are the

events and do you provide support?

We provide a huge amount of support,

the platform is designed to allow

people to take incremental steps

before they get to a bigger

audience. They start on family and

friends and as they get more

confident and the reviews get in

they will build the size of it and

charge for. Our average events has

been for eleven people, which sounds

like a lot. But a lot of them are

very big parties with our more

experienced hoefss. -- hosts.

Are

there safety concerns allowing

strangers into your home.

If you had

asked me that ten years ago it would

have been different, because Air B &

B away. If you're prepared to hand

over your most prized asset, it is a

smaller step to invite people in,

and people are so grateful for the

experience to try something

different that it is really

attracting adventurous people and

also very polite guests.

Polite

paying guests, how you make money?

We charge a commission and the

commission reduces as a host gets

better. To encourage them and to

empower them to get the skills to

progress their career with us. So

the more they do it the more they

earn and we're all finding that some

of those most experienced hoechss

are turn -- hosts are encouraging

other hosts to join in and improve

their skills. It is a real

community.

The food industry is very

saturated, there is a lot of

competition out there for places for

people to spend money, are you

deliberately targeting non-city

areas where there isn't that variety

of choice?

We have a lot of hosts in

cities, but our immediate strategy

was to look at rural areas where

there isn't the choice and some

areas where maybe the community of

the pub has closed or the post

office has closed and really it is

the people in the heart of the

neighbourhood that are the heart of

community. So putting people around

tables in rural areas is a great way

to bring neighbours together.

Thank

you very much. Very interesting and

best of luck with the business.

Thank you.

In a moment we will look

through the business pages with

David. But here is how you can in

touch with us.

The business live

page has analysis from our team

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from you. Get involved on the BBC's

business live web page.

You can find us on Twitter and

Facebook. What you need to do, when

you need to do it.

Let's see what other

stories are being talked

about on social media.

David Buik is joining

us again to discuss.

Facebook is rolling out facial

recognition software, that means you

can be tagged in a photo and if

somebody puts up a photo of you, you

will know about it.

I'm not the

right person to answer! Because I

find any personal thing, I find

Facebook intrusive, if you saw the

people from Facebook and Google

before the Culture Secretary

committee the other day, they said

there are 500 million tweets or

placements per day. It is going to

be impossible to actually keep full

control of it, however Facebook

wants to say you have to sign up for

it. I think a couple of country

won't do. Japan and Canada. I think

for the young, providing it doesn't

go across the line, where they have

this problem of criminalology, I

think it is fun, I don't want to be

a kill joy, but I think the controls

need to be there and I do sound very

fuddy-duddy, but I have a

fearfulness about social media which

has got to a level of hysteria and

hatred, which I unhelpful. If it is

done in good faith fantastic.

Important to roll out. It is not

going to happen in the EU and

Canada.

And you need to opt in. It

has been part of social media

platform for some time. As you say,

there are concerns, a lot of people

would agree with you.

We started off

with Skype, this is a much better

development in terms of quality.

Now

a story that was chosen not with you

in mind, David.

I wondered when you

sent it to me, but there you are.

It

just caught our eye, eating salad

can stave off dementia.

It follows

the BBC's excellent pieces about

older people, starting off with

Fergus Walsh getting hammered by an

84-year-old woman in a race.

Yesterday I think it with was the

ladies doing their dancing.

Absolutely wonderful. In their 70s.

And maybe there is hope for me,

because I eat salad pretty much

every day. The medical profession

has done so much work on this kind

of thing.

This I research from

Chicago saying eating salad can help

stave off dementia and reduce your

brain age by eleven years. Amazing.

So eat your greens.

Quickly at the

start of the programme we tweeted

out asking if people were surprised

that apple was outstanding its hand

sets when you update the software.

We have had a lot of tweets. One

says, all phone companies do that.

One says after updates it may force

the Ca pas pi. Capacity.